My friends and I had an opportunity to share ideas with American students in Hiroshima on Saturday, May 20, 2018. We had fun with students from East Carolina University, but this experience was shocking, too, because I realized how ignorant I am about Japanese history and culture.
While we stroll around Hiroshima Peace Park, I was asked many times by the American students like that “Have you been there before?” or “What do you know about Hiroshima?” I had thought I knew about Hiroshima but I was not able to explain my knowledge well because my understanding about Hiroshima was very superficial.
We took a ferry and arrived at Miyajima in the afternoon. American students and I went looked around souvenir shops, and there were many cat figures which are called manekineko, meaning “welcoming cat.” I wanted to explained the meaning of the welcoming cat, but I was not able to talk about it sufficiently.
Then we entered the main building of Itsukushiam Shrine, and I only washed my hands, when an American student pointed out that I was supposed to purify myself by cleansing my mouth. I was very ashamed of my ignorance.
During the short exchanges of the American students I learned being raised in Japan does not mean I know Japanese culture explicitly. I felt I need to make effort to understand Japanese culture so that I could explain Japanese culture to people abroad.
Mutsumi Higashio (University of Shimane)